(This message has been multi-posted to alt.certification.a-plus. Please
accept my apologies, all of you multi-post haters. I thought I'd get a
better response from that crowd, than I actually did)

Hello again,

I just got done doing an online chat with HP, regarding the absence of a COM
port on an HP Pavillion A730N, running Windows XP SP2. What prompted the
customer to call me was the inability to use dial-up. Here is my original
post to HP:

__________________________________________________ ____________

Hello, My customer has an HP Pavillion a 730 n. It runs Windows XP Home
Edition Service Pack 2. Recently they've been unable to establish a dial up
connection.

What I have done:

1) checked the phone line: OK

2) tried a different modem: did not solve problem

3) tried the original modem in different PCI slot: did not solve problem

Also, my customer attempted to perform a System Restore, to a point previous
to the point when the problem arose.

In Device Manager, under Ports (COM and LPT), there are no COM ports listed.
I attempted to install a COM port, through the Add New Hardware Wizard, and
the COM port did install, but a yellow exclamation point appeared next to
it, in Device Manager.
I attempted to update the driver, first from an automatic search through the
C: drive, this did not solve the problem. I then inserted a Windows XP Home
Edition disk into the CD drive; I couldn't find a driver on the CD, either.

I also checked the BIOS, it is version 3.06. I did not find any listing for
a COM port in the BIOS, but I did find one for an LPT port. I will make a
guess that there ought to be the possibility of a virtual COM port somewhere
in the BIOS, or the operating system, or both, but none appear to exist, at
least, not correctly configured.

Can you help me? I need to know how to correctly establish a communications
port.

Thank you.

Ken Newton
Proprietor, Kema Computer Consulting
P.O. Box 791
Harwich Port, MA 02646
kemacomputernospam@verizon.net

__________________________________________________ ____

We "chatted" for a while, and the technician advised me that the best thing
to do is a "non-destructive" re-install, i.e., data will not be lost, but
problem will be solved. Run from the Recovery Partition.

Don't think for a second that I'm not going to back up all data, and then
prepare for the worst. But, does anyone out there know of a less invasive
solution?

Thanks, in advance.

smackedass